The Approaching Storm (звёздные войны) Read online

  "But my body fragrance is of the Pangay Ous," he declared, interrupting her. "See?" Pulling the compact atomizer from beneath his robe, he shoved it forward and sprayed her right in the face, before she could object. She inhaled reflexively, her eyes rolled back, and she slumped to the floor, her chin banging against the counter as she dropped. So fast did the spray work that she did not even have time to look surprised.

  "Haja!" he exclaimed, stepping back from the counter. "The poor lady has collapsed! It must be her hearts!"

  "Here, let me have a look." Alerted to a possible emergency and wishing to be helpful, Barriss pushed forward. "I'm not that

  familiar with Ansionian physiology, but there are certain bipedal circulatory and respiratory constants that…"

  Kyakhta moved aside, not listening to her incomprehensible medical jargon. He wouldn't have understood any of it any way. Bulgan was already in motion. Another glance outside showed that the street was still devoid of Jedi. The Padawan had stepped behind the counter and was kneeling beside the fallen proprietress.

  "Her vitals appear sound." She sounded a note of puzzlement. "I don't think it's serious. Perhaps only a fainting spell." She started to rise. "A little cool water on her face, I think. I wonder what could have caused her to go down like that, so sudden and silently?"

  "Maybe this?" Thrusting the sprayer forward, Kyakhta caught the female with a full burst right in the face. If anything, having two nostrils instead of the normal one, she absorbed more of the mist than would an Ansionian. Her eyes flickered but did not roll back, and she started to reach for the lightsaber slung at her waist. Startled and beginning to panic, Kyakhta squirted her again, and then a third time, before she finally went down. In a testament to her training, she'd absorbed enough vapor to put out a whole squad of mounted warriors.

  "Hurry, hurry!" Trying to divide his attention between the entrance and the now unconscious Padawan, he struggled with Bulgan to stuff the human female into the unbreakable sack they had brought with them. Finally lifting their bagged burden, which proved surprisingly heavy, they hurried toward the back of the establishment. As was typical with such better-off shops, it boasted a second, rear entrance. Uldas was with them-the dirty service alley was deserted. Remembering to finger the signaling device at his side, he led the way toward Jaaruls Street, the shielded and secure apartment waiting there, and safety. Excitement rose within him. They'd done it!

  Now all they had to do was hold on to their captive, keep her alive and well, and await further instructions from Soergg. Compared to the abduction they had just carried out, such talk-work struck Kyakhta as not work at all.

  No one questioned the contents of the lumpy sack the two Alwari lugged down alleys and back streets. Business was business, and a nomad's business was none but his own.

  Luminara put down the beautifully enameled little mirror that had been cut from a single reflective mineral surface and looked around, frowning. Something didn't feel right. Something didn't feel normal. It took her a moment of searching, with both eyes and mind, both within and without, to realize what it was. She had not seen Barriss in some time.

  Where had the Padawan gone? It wasn't like her to stray. A free-roaming Padawan had autonomy, but no access to greater knowledge. Kenobi took notice of her concern and moved to stand next to his colleague.

  "Something amiss, Luminara?"

  "I don't see Barriss, Obi-Wan. She usually hangs on my every word, as well as on those of whomever I happen to be with at the time."

  He smiled reassuringly. "Then it's not surprising she's off somewhere. We've both been pretty quiet here these last few moments."

  "Last time I saw her," Anakin put in, "she was looking at woodcarvings in a shop." Though he did not reach for his weapon, his natural protective instinct was instantly aroused.

  Luminara's deep blue eyes met his. "Which shop?" she demanded.

  "Not to worry, Master," Anakin told her. "I've kept an eye on the entryway ever since she stepped inside. She hasn't come out."

  "Hasn't come out this way, you mean. It's probably nothing, and she dislikes it when I act more like a mother than a teacher, but Barriss absorbs and files sights very quickly. It's not like her to linger." Her eyes bored into the Padawan's. "Which shop?" she reiterated.

  Sensing the seriousness in her manner, Anakin put aside any remaining vestige of flippancy, raised a hand, and pointed. "That one, over there." He followed close behind the two Jedi as they walked rapidly toward the establishment he'd identified.

  The door was propped open, which was not surprising. No one acknowledged their entrance, which was.

  "Barriss?" Luminara's anxiety rose as she moved rapidly through the shop, searching among the larger woodcarvings that crowded the back. A shout redirected her exploration.

  "Luminara!" It was Obi-Wan. That in itself was alarming, because she had already noted that he hardly ever raised his voice. "Over here!"

  He was cradling the head of the elderly Ansionian female against his right leg. Anakin looked on, his usual buoyancy gone, his expression stricken. "Water," Obi-Wan called tersely. Hunting hurriedly through a rear room, Anakin found a cooler half full of small polymer receptacles. Bringing one containing cold water forward, he handed it to his Master and watched while Obi-Wan lightly sprinkled the contents on the oldster's face. Her large eyes, the color of fine claret, blinked open moments later.

  "Goodness me-by Nomgon's Arm!" She studied the alien human faces gazing worriedly down at her. "Who are you people?

  What happened to me?" Using her hands to push herself into a sitting position, she added bewilderedly, "Why am I lying on the floor?"

  Luminara studied her fixedly. "We were hoping you could tell us that."

  Obi-Wan and Anakin helped the proprietress to her feet.

  "This-this is my shop. My place. I was showing some wares to a customer." One hand went to her head and rubbed her gray ing brush of mane forward. "Alwari, he was. Said he was Pangay Ous, and wore the right raiment. But his manner was odd." Her face added wrinkles of distaste to those shaped by age. "There was another with him, I think. I remember because he was ugly, and yet his companion made him look handsome."

  "A young human female, dressed like us," Luminara broke in. "Have you seen anyone like that?"

  The elderly native blinked. "Ou, to be sure. Very attentive she was, though I suspect not intending to buy anything." She smiled, showing sharp Ansionian teeth. "When you've been in this business as long as I have, you can tell, even with different species."

  "Where is she now?" Obi-Wan inquired in his soft yet com manding voice.

  "Why-I don't know. I don't know where any of them are." The proprietress looked down and shook her head. "Last I re member, we were speaking of odors, and then…" She looked up blankly. "Then I opened my eyes, to see you three bending over me. What do you suppose could have?…"

  "Masters! Out here!"

  Responding to Anakin's call, the two Jedi hurried to the back of the shop and out the rear entrance whose door was now ajar. They found him standing in an alley, kneeling and pointing. The pavement was dry and thick with dust. The marks of the two sets of footprints were clear to see. Thank the Force, Obi-Wan thought, for the absence in the back alley of a muddling breeze.

  "Ansionian footprints." Luminara looked up, glancing both ways down the alley. "By themselves, confirmation of nothing." She indicated the numerous other prints that marred the avenue's dusty coating. "Many feet have recently trod this path."

  "But these begin right from the doorway," Anakin argued. "And see how deep they are compared to some of the others. As if the two who made these deeper ones might be carrying something." He gazed down the shadowed passageway. "All Ansioni-ans are more or less the same size-and weight."

  "Three go into the shop, two come out, and neither of those sets human." Obi-Wan was nodding approvingly. "You are learn ing to see beyond the obvious, Anakin. Would that you always continue to do so."

  Luminara had s
hut her eyes tightly. Now they opened anew. "I cannot sense her presence anywhere. If she has been taken, I should be able to detect her distress. But there is nothing."

  "She might be unconscious." Obi-Wan had moved farther out into the alley, the better to scan its most distant reaches. "If the two locals who took her intended her ill, they might have used the same method to knock her out that they used on the owner of the shop."

  "Or she might be dead," Anakin pointed out. In another set ting, among other people, his comment could have provoked angst or outrage. Neither Luminara nor Obi-Wan reacted, how ever. As Jedi, they were not offended by objectivity, no matter how sensitive the subject.

  But within, Luminara was churning. While a Jedi might not show many emotions, that did not mean she did not have them.

  "This is a sizable city. How are we going to find her?" She fought to keep the anger she felt in check.

  "We could ask the city authorities for assistance," Anakin proposed helpfully.

  Obi-Wan set the suggestion aside. "That's all we need now, at this delicate stage of negotiations. To confess to our hosts that one of our own has gone missing, and that we were helpless to prevent it. How much confidence in our perceived omnipotence do you think that admission would inspire?"

  Anakin nodded understandingly. "I see what you mean, Master. Sometimes I am too direct."

  "A common affliction of the inexperienced, for which you are not responsible." He looked back at Luminara. "We have to find her ourselves, no matter what her condition." His anxious colleague smiled tightly. "And quickly, lest our Ansionian hosts sense something is amiss."

  Luminara indicated the shop. "First we'll get as detailed a description as we can of the two Alwari who were here at the same time as Barriss. Then I think we should split up, each of us taking a third of the city. Using this shop as a nexus, we'll fan out and sweep as much of the community as we can; asking questions, offering rewards locally, and striving to sense Barriss's presence."

  "Obi-Wan, do you think the same people as those who were assaulting Master Luminara and Padawan Barriss when we ar rived are behind this?" Anakin wondered.

  "Impossible to say," the Jedi Knight replied. "There are so many factions opposing one another on this world that it could be the work of any one of them. And as you know, there are off-world interests at work here as well." In his quiet way, Anakin saw, Obi-Wan Kenobi was more than a little displeased. "This is all we need-to add heat to a flashpoint. But politics aren't important now. What matters is finding Barriss." He did not add "alive and well."

  He did not have to.

  NEWSBLINK (Coruscant News Network)-Nemrileo irm-Drocubac, representative from Tanjay VI, died yesterday when his aircar collided with a heavy-equipment delivery vehicle in south quadrant, section ninety-three, of the exclusive Bindai suburb where he lived. Questioned at the site, the pilot of the delivery craft declared that his vehicle's internal guidance system had suffered an undetected software failure that led directly to the fatal collision. Investigators on the scene were attempting to confirm this assertion, though their efforts have been complicated by the severe damage to both vehicles.

  Representative from Tanjay irm-Drocubac leaves behind a wife and two children. Though active in the growing secessionist faction, and suspected of sympathies with the more extreme members of that movement, he was well respected by his colleagues and coworkers, as well as by his supporters on his homeworld. In accordance with Tanjay tradition, his ashes will be scattered tomorrow above the capital city where he lived and worked for the past fifteen years of his life.

  A grieving Chancellor Palpatine is scheduled to deliver the eulogy.

  (end transmission; end article)

  Chapter 5

  "For a young humanoid female, she weighs more than I would have expected." Kyakhta let out a tired whoosh of air as he and his companion set the sack down on the bed. In response to movement within, Bulgan released the seal at the top. Sitting up, Barriss shuffled the sack off her shoulders. It fell to her waist and, when she stood, to her feet. Her ankles were strapped together and her hands secured behind her back. A quick glance downward, then up at her captors, found her focusing on Kyakhta's smile.

  "Looking for this, apprentice?" From a bag slung at his waist, he removed her service belt. It contained all of her personal gear, including her comlink and lightsaber. Shuffling over, Bulgan tentatively fingered the latter.

  "Jedi lightsaber. Always want try one."

  Kyakhta yanked the belt away, let it slip back into the open bag like a sedated snake. "Don't touch that, you idiot! Don't you remember briefing where Hutt warned about handling such devices? A Jedi lightsaber can be tuned to its owner's personal electrical field. Try activate this one, and you likely blow it to bits. Along with you your dumbself also."

  "Ou, that right. Bulgan forget." Turning, he once more con sidered their bound captive. "Not much to look at, is it? I could break it in half easy."

  "Only physically." Unable to run or gesture, Barriss sat down on the bed. "You obviously know who I am, what I represent. Are you aware that even as we speak there are three Jedi hunting furiously for me, and that they will not be happy when they find out what has happened?"

  Kyakhta laughed while Bulgan chortled gruffly. "Let them look. They not find you here." He indicated the high smooth walls that enclosed them. "This a safe place, and in any case you not stay here long." Remembering, he flicked the switch on his call-in. "Already, others being notified. They come here, take you off our hands. Then we a little rich, and done with you as well."

  Choosing not to dispute the claim, she continued quietly. "What do you, or whoever you work for, want with me?"

  The two Alwari exchanged a look. "Not our business," Kyakhta finally replied. "Catching you our job. Questions not our job." He turned to leave the room. "Report in success now. I looking forward to it." He straightened. "Bossban don't think we can do it. Be nice surprise for him." His smile widened. "I think I make him wait a little while before I tell him so." He gave his companion a shove. "Watch her close, Bulgan. Beware Jedi tricks."

  "No worry, Kyakhta." Hunched over but alert, the other Al wari settled himself on a bench opposite the shackled human. "Bulgan watch carefully."

  Barriss stared as the single door closed heavily behind the one who called himself Kyakhta. A loud dick followed his exit. Without her lightsaber, she would not be able to penetrate the barrier, and her limited mastery of the Force was not sufficient to allow her to pierce it mentally. She was trapped until her friends could locate her. That they would do so she did not doubt. Only the time factor troubled her. Would there be enough of it before she was transferred from this place and handed over to whomever had arranged for her abduction? Of one thing she was certain: whoever it was was likely to be both more ruthless and more competent than her two comparatively simple Ansionian captors.

  As time passed, she waited for her guard to grow tired, or to leave. He did neither. Nor was she able, try as she might, to influence his mind. That could be, she reflected, because according to every indication there was not much mind there to influence. That might explain why neither she nor her Master had sensed its hostile intentions.

  They had used the unconscious shopkeeper to distract her at tention. Upset with herself at falling for the diversion, she repressed the growing irritation. Anger was another kind of distraction, one she could not presently afford.

  "Maybe bossban give Kyakhta and Bulgan bonus," her watcher observed aloud. "Jedi lightsaber would be nice. Then Bulgan go home, show to clan. They let Bulgan back in. And those who object," he made a swinging motion with one heavy hand, "Bulgan cut off their heads!"

  "You speak fondly of your bossban." She made a conscious effort to appear and sound as helpless and resigned as possible. "Who might that imposing individual be?"

  A slow smile spread across her guard's face. "Padawan try fool Bulgan. No Jedi tricks here. Bulgan and Kyakhta little slow, maybe. But that not mean we stupid." Rising
and lumbering forward, he loomed over her seated form; a broad- chested, bald-pated, threatening mass of muscle and bone, unusually massive for an Ansionian. "You think Bulgan stupid?"

  "I did not say that, nor did I mean it," she responded sooth ingly. The Alwari backed off. "But I do see something else about you that I am sure of."

  The hulking native's eyes narrowed dangerously. "What that? Careful be, Padawan human. Bulgan not afraid of you."

  "I can see that. What I also see, and can sense in ways you cannot imagine, is that both you and your accomplice are in pain-and probably have been so for a long time."

  Bulgan's brown, gold-flecked Ansionian eye bulged even wider than usual. "How-how you know that?"